The Lough, Diving ducks (InDucktion)

In recent days I have been returning to the Lough in Cork city more and more. I had hoped to take a look at some of the common species living there and with any luck get some good light shots. The results varied. On several occasions ring bills and icelands showed up in the distance but for the most part the ducks supplied the greatest interest.

In particular I have a fondness for pochards and indeed other members of the Aythya ducks which unlike mallards and shovelers actively dive below the surface for food.

A number of weeks (months) ago a number of pochard showed up at the Lough. I didn’t count them but the number at a guess was about 25. With them I managed to judge that one of these ducks looked out of place. Indeed I soon learned that this was in fact a male ring necked duck. Unfortunately since it was practically dark at the time and the duck was very much asleep out on the water I gave up and decided to come back the next day. It had apparently moved on when I did return but at least I got to see it!

The ring necked duck is a rare American species not unlike a tufted duck in appearance but with a different head shape and without the distinctive tuft.

Pochard
My girlfriend maintains that pochards are not as nice looking as tufted ducks; she says that their colours clash with each other! I have to say personally I would count the pochard as one of the nicest looking ducks seen on the Lough. Usually it is quite unusual to see a pochard here. They do come and go but very rarely do they stay for more then a few days. This winter I was delighted to see not only the already mentioned flock of them but also a single individual who remained to take advantage of the food offerings of excitable children and their families. To my knowledge he is still there (or at least was last week).

In contrast to the vivid males female pochards are quite brown looking. Still I do find personally that female diving ducks look nicer then dabbling ducks. Why I am of this opinion is hard to say, perhaps it is the detailing around the eyes and the shape of the head that set it apart from the plain camouflage plumage of say a female mallard.

Tufted duck
Tufted ducks are amongst the most common species of duck in Cork city. The Lough has dozens of them constantly active around the edges of the water, this makes a nice change from some of the other species such as shovelers which seem to prefer staying near the central island. It can be quite hard to see that it is closely related to the pochard. I guess the clue is in the very similar looking bill. I have had limited success getting a shot I like of these ducks, a phenomenon made all the more frustrating by the fact that they willingly come over. I just never seem to get the settings on my camera quite right for a bird this dark. Ah well. I’m going to let you guess which one the female is!

By the way for the sake of convenience I have customized my flickr photo gadget on the right to have a dropdown list of species so as to have easier access to each species. It currently only has ducks but when I get the time I will put in all the species I have so far photographed. Just click on any of the thumbnails to get a bigger version on a new page.

Back to Basics

Since Cork city itself has once again become a more satisfying place for birding with the influx of Iceland and ring billed gulls I have been making an increased number of visits to the old haunts. Whilst hundreds of photos remain as yet unsorted I decided to throw up some photos of the ‘Old familiars’.

UCC is still a great place to photograph blackbirds since they often sit on the various railings which allows for better backgrounds. The two below made for quite an entertaining watch as they interacted with each other.

Here is my latest attempt at a Goldcrest shot, I say attempt as if it was planned but this tiny bird decided to land right next to my by Sunday’s well and obligingly posed, which added to my irritation when I found the other shots where ruined. Still I got this one and at least it shows the characteristic crest. Along with long tailed tits these guys are the smallest birds in Ireland.

Also got a not so picturesque shot of this robin. A correction on previous blog posts, I always assumed as a studious child that robins where members of the trush family like the above blackbird. Turns out that these guys along with wheatears and stonechats are probably more closely related to old world flycatchers like the spotted flycatcher. Must say I am finding it hard to get used to the reclassification, probably because I have been thinking of robins as trushes since I was 4! (There seem to still be people that consider them trushes. More research is undoubtedly required.)

Additionally I have been trying to get some good shots of Common gulls around the city. Mostly because it’s my favourite resident gull and because in summer it is quite challenging to find one in the city centre. Results where mixed, the detail is there, unfortunately the lighting is not, it’s been a somewhat grey January (on my days out anyway). The final shot really shows why this species is also often called a mew gull, it really does mew :)

The flycatcher invasion

The UCC spotted flycatchers remain with one pair actively established on the grounds & a third flycatcher some 30 seconds down the road which likely implies that its mate was somewhere nearby. The river walk also revealed glimpses of another one! The city’s green patches are full of them evidently.

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The flycatcher belongs to a group of about a hundred small insect catching birds (Old world flycatchers), some of which are not quite so bland, take this here Malaysian blue flycatcher for instance!

Our little friend has his good sides too tho...

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The flycatcher looks unremarkable at first glance with its small size, unobtrusive voice and drab green colouring but one thing that stands out about it is its precision and speed. Whilst taking pictures the flycatchers moved between close knit branches with split second timing and movements that where barely visible to the eye (not ideal for taking pictures then).

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If you look closely you can see that the flycatcher is actually more elongated then say a similar sized robin, with a pointed bill and a tapered body/tail. Its tail fans out widely and can be used to make fast mid air course corrections. These adaptations combine to allow the flycatcher to hunt by perching on a branch and quickly flying up and grabbing insects in mid air before returning to the branch. All this happens in moments. See the arkive video below to see what I mean. 

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It’s amazing how each species has adapted to its environment in different ways. I also happened to find a tree creeper in the park (in a tree with a pineapple stuck in it! What the heck where they getting up to in that mid Summer festival!?). This is the best shot I’ve gotten of one so far, it’s not at all great but at least it shows the important details of this bird. It has brown camouflage to blend in with the tree bark, a stiffened tail to allow it to rest vertically against the tree trunk, a long probing bill to grab insects in and around bark and long claws that allow it to walk up and down tree branches with ease. Again, it’s perfectly adapted to life in the trees!

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There are quite a number of newly fledged birds around and those who are still dependent on their parents can be quite easy to spot. You will generally see them making a lot of noise and being far less careful about being seen then their stressed out elders. Blue tits and wrens in particular are abundant and can easily be found by their sounds. (mother on the fence on top, baby at bottom)

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Yesterday I spotted this goldfinch, pity it wouldn’t stop to be photographed at close range, still its colours more than make up for my lousy stealth abilities!

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Other everyday but none the less enjoyable sightings where several young greylags at the Lough, a jackdaw posing rather nicely and a young coot. (greylags,jackdaw,coot).